Living the Dream
August 16, 2011 10:11 AM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Growing up in the Charleston area, it was always a dream for WVU men’s soccer forward Nick Claudio to represent his state on the pitch of Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
That dream has become reality for Claudio the last three seasons and now he will lead the squad as one of the captains for the 2011 season. This accomplishment, however, is not something that has come without hard work.
“I didn’t really expect it, but it is an honor and being from West Virginia it allows me to lay the groundwork down for kids who aspire to do the same thing,” Claudio says. “I really appreciate the opportunity to be a captain my senior year.”
After playing in 32 matches and starting eight during the first three seasons of his WVU career, Claudio looks back at it all and can remember originally just looking to find a way to make the team.
“You start out freshman year and you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Claudio recalls. “It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of long nights trying to figure out how I’m going to get on the team, stay on the team, and what am I going to do to get some more playing time.”
Being named a captain halfway through preseason is something that came as a bit of a shock, but something that was well deserved according to his coach.
“Nick was someone we recruited pretty early on in the process and always told him that he was going to have to work a little bit harder than everybody else, understanding that he just wasn’t exposed to anything of this level before,” Coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “Over the last few years Nick has really hit his stride, in particular last year midway through the season.
“He decided he was going to make a change and really give it everything he had and because of it he has worked himself into our starting lineup and he’s shown everybody what hard work really does mean.”
After moving to the forward position from defender, Claudio used his scrappy and physical style to get onto the field for 12 matches, including four postseason matches. Claudio even recorded his first career point with an assist against USF in WVU’s first game of the BIG EAST Tournament.
“As a forward I like to think that I can cause a lot of problems for defenders based on the work I put in,” Claudio explains. “I try to force them into making mistakes and try to get my nose in there and throw them off their game. I’m not the most skillful, but I like to contribute technically when my teammates get me the ball.”
Not only has Claudio been getting it done on the field, but as finance major who carries a GPA above 3.0 he has been getting it done in the classroom as well.
“Obviously I have a heavy workload with all the 400 level finance classes and it’s going to be tough, but having soccer is great to focus on something other than school,” Claudio says. “After all of the hard work we have put in academically and athletically, it’s good to know I have something to fall back on after it’s all done.”
Now as Claudio goes into his final season in a Mountaineer uniform, the Claudio tradition will continue with younger brother, Zack, who will be a redshirt freshman on the team this season.
“He already knows how to work hard just based on how we were raised. Our parent’s are hard workers and instilled those values in us,” says the elder Claudio. “We played on the same high school team and for the same club, we feed off one another and if one of us does something, the other one strives to do the same.”
That dream has become reality for Claudio the last three seasons and now he will lead the squad as one of the captains for the 2011 season. This accomplishment, however, is not something that has come without hard work.
“I didn’t really expect it, but it is an honor and being from West Virginia it allows me to lay the groundwork down for kids who aspire to do the same thing,” Claudio says. “I really appreciate the opportunity to be a captain my senior year.”
After playing in 32 matches and starting eight during the first three seasons of his WVU career, Claudio looks back at it all and can remember originally just looking to find a way to make the team.
“You start out freshman year and you don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Claudio recalls. “It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of long nights trying to figure out how I’m going to get on the team, stay on the team, and what am I going to do to get some more playing time.”
Being named a captain halfway through preseason is something that came as a bit of a shock, but something that was well deserved according to his coach.
“Nick was someone we recruited pretty early on in the process and always told him that he was going to have to work a little bit harder than everybody else, understanding that he just wasn’t exposed to anything of this level before,” Coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “Over the last few years Nick has really hit his stride, in particular last year midway through the season.
“He decided he was going to make a change and really give it everything he had and because of it he has worked himself into our starting lineup and he’s shown everybody what hard work really does mean.”
After moving to the forward position from defender, Claudio used his scrappy and physical style to get onto the field for 12 matches, including four postseason matches. Claudio even recorded his first career point with an assist against USF in WVU’s first game of the BIG EAST Tournament.
“As a forward I like to think that I can cause a lot of problems for defenders based on the work I put in,” Claudio explains. “I try to force them into making mistakes and try to get my nose in there and throw them off their game. I’m not the most skillful, but I like to contribute technically when my teammates get me the ball.”
Not only has Claudio been getting it done on the field, but as finance major who carries a GPA above 3.0 he has been getting it done in the classroom as well.
“Obviously I have a heavy workload with all the 400 level finance classes and it’s going to be tough, but having soccer is great to focus on something other than school,” Claudio says. “After all of the hard work we have put in academically and athletically, it’s good to know I have something to fall back on after it’s all done.”
Now as Claudio goes into his final season in a Mountaineer uniform, the Claudio tradition will continue with younger brother, Zack, who will be a redshirt freshman on the team this season.
“He already knows how to work hard just based on how we were raised. Our parent’s are hard workers and instilled those values in us,” says the elder Claudio. “We played on the same high school team and for the same club, we feed off one another and if one of us does something, the other one strives to do the same.”
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